I wanted to take a second and ruminate on some of the activities going on at the Los Angeles Galaxy during the off-season. I’m a devoted fan no matter what and I’m filled with blind optimism for the season ahead but let’s take a look at some positives and negatives over what’s going on.

POSITIVE

Out with Frank Yallop and in with Ruud Gullit. Yallop was fine and all, and the two terrible seasons he was in charge has more to do with Alexi Lalas being incompetent than him, but he just was out of his league towards the end there. Gullit is an A-league coach and he’ll make things off the pitch just as exciting as the things on it.

The Galaxy dropped Carlos Pavon, who had feet like concrete blocks and was the biggest waste of money I have ever witnessed. A complete joke in front of goal, he scored two goals all season because Beckham dropped some nasty crosses right on his head and he couldn’t miss. I hope he’s selling churros the next time I’m at the Home Depot Center.

The Galaxy traded Joe Cannon to the San Jose Earthquakes for some undisclosed allocations. I am totally fine with this since I thought Cannon was vastly overrated and turned in spotty performances all season. Granted, his defence was uniformly shambolic but still, I’m much more excited to see Steve Cronin mature in between the posts.

NEUTRALS

The Galaxy acquired Clint Mathis from Red Bull New York. True, he’s kind of fat and old but he once was a really exciting player and he’s still good so this was positive news. Putting him in the midfield means we don’t have to play Josh Tudela anymore, who has a fine beard, but is mostly useless. However, the Galaxy turned around and sold Mathis a couple weeks after they bought him, presumably to free up some cash so they could buy someone huge yet to be determined.

NEGATIVES

The Galaxy lost Gavin Glinton to the San Jose Earthquakes in the expansion draft. Basically, they lost one of their only guys who could score some goals and who provided some depth to the squad, and got nothing in return.

The Galaxy traded a 2009 draft pick and some allocation money for Carlos Ruiz. Yeah, he’s a prolific goalscorer and just what the doctor ordered for a team featuring Alan Gordon as their best striking option, but he’s also kind of a douchebag. I much prefered loving to hate him on another team.

That’s all the news we’ve heard so far, other than Ante Jazic missing the first few months of the season due to injury. Surely, there’s another big signing or two in the works and I really hope it’s not Luis Figo. Figo was amazing in 2000, but the Galaxy needs to stop buying people over the age of 35. Seriously. It’s pathetic.